I’m a writer with two sisters very different from me in lifestyle. For example, one went into nursing (I hate blood!), and one was a bookkeeper (I also hate numbers!) I first wrote about loving but dissimilar sisters in a cozy series called The Sleuth Sisters Mysteries, under the pen name Maggie Pill. The books are fun, and readers often tell me which of the sisters they most identify with. “I’m Barb,” or “I’m the nice one.” Seven books later, I found I wanted to examine the darker side of sisterhood. What if things your sister does (or sisters do) make you uncomfortable? What wins: family loyalty or personal integrity?
Maybe it’s the sister thing, but this book pleased me way more than other recent WWII novels that are touted as “great literature.” Sisters Isabelle Rossignol and Vianne Mauriac struggle to survive during the occupation of France, opposing the Nazis in different ways, with different results. Their courage in the face of danger and their dedication to each other result in a wonderful read.
Soon to be a major motion picture, The Nightingale is a multi-million copy bestseller across the world. It is a heart-breakingly beautiful novel that celebrates the resilience of the human spirit and the endurance of women.
This story is about what it was like to be a woman during World War II when women's stories were all too often forgotten or overlooked . . . Vianne and Isabelle Mauriac are two sisters, separated by years and experience, by ideals and passion and circumstance, each embarking on her own dangerous path towards survival, love and freedom in war-torn France.
Because it’s been copied a lot since its release, the book might not shock readers today, but in its time, the idea was ground-breaking. I read it as a teen and was fascinated with “Merricat" Blackwood, her sister Constance, and the mystery of how their family was poisoned. The rhyme chanted by local children whenever Merricat leaves home has stuck in my head for decades.
“Merricat,” said Constance, “would you like a cup of tea?” “Oh no,” said Merricat, “you'll poison me.” “Merricat,” said Constance, “Would you like to go to sleep down in the boneyard ten feet deep!”
Living in the Blackwood family home with only her sister, Constance, and her Uncle Julian for company, Merricat just wants to preserve their delicate way of life. But ever since Constance was acquitted of murdering the rest of the family, the world isn't leaving the Blackwoods alone. And when Cousin Charles arrives, armed with overtures of friendship and a desperate need to get into the safe, Merricat must do everything in her power to protect the remaining family.
This is a book that people either love or hate, and it comes down to your beliefs about…well, belief.
Nathan Price, the self-righteous pastor who packs his wife and four girls up to go “save” people in Africa, is a telling representation of American ethnocentrism. The family’s mistakes in a new culture sometimes result in danger, sometimes in awakening, and sometimes in humor. I loved how each girl (and the mother too) struggled to deal with what the man of the family chose for them.
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An international bestseller and a modern classic, this suspenseful epic of one family's tragic undoing and their remarkable reconstruction has been read, adored and shared by millions around the world.
'Breathtaking.' Sunday Times 'Exquisite.' The Times 'Beautiful.' Independent 'Powerful.' New York Times
This story is told by the wife and four daughters of Nathan Price, a fierce, evangelical Baptist who takes his family and mission to the Belgian Congo in 1959.
They carry with them everything they believe they will…
One has to have read Jane Austen in order to be a literature teacher, which I was for many years. The trials and tribulations of the Dashwood daughters, Elinor, Marianne, and Margaret, provide an entertaining look into their society and the opportunities (or not) available for women of the age. It’s fun to see them operating by “sense” or by “sensibility.” Many people of today could use more consideration of those two opposites and the repercussions of each.
'The wit of Jane Austen has for partner the perfection of her taste' Virginia Woolf
Jane Austen's subtle and witty novel of secrets and suppression, lies and seduction, brilliantly portrays a world where rigid social convention clashes with the impulses of the heart. It tells the story of two very different sisters who find themselves thrown into an unkind world when their father dies. Marianne, wild and impulsive, falls dangerously in love, while Elinor suffers her own private heartbreak but conceals her true feelings, even from those closest to her.
I liked the premise of this one: Kit’s sister Josie was supposedly killed in a terrorist attack, but one night she sees her on a TV news report in faraway New Zealand.
We might all wonder what we would do if the chance to find and reunite with a lost loved one arose. Questions must be asked and answered: Why did she leave? How could she let us grieve all this time? What happens if I find her?
An Amazon Charts, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, and USA Today bestseller.
From the author of The Art of Inheriting Secrets comes an emotional new tale of two sisters, an ocean of lies, and a search for the truth.
Her sister has been dead for fifteen years when she sees her on the TV news...
Josie Bianci was killed years ago on a train during a terrorist attack. Gone forever. It's what her sister, Kit, an ER doctor in Santa Cruz, has always believed. Yet all it takes is a few heart-wrenching seconds to upend Kit's world. Live coverage of…
Same home, same parents. How do sisters become such different adults?
Nettie is a mess who commits a murder she refuses to explain. Ruth is a success at everything she does, which might include becoming the First Lady of the United States. Kim is "Baby Sister," unsure of what she wants from life. Separated by their lifestyles, the sisters are caring but not close until events push them back toward each other. Their collision leads to a stunning escape, a crushing decision, and societal questions that concern not only the Kovalesky girls, but all of us.
As a child, I lived in a small valley sheltered from the night city lights. I could see the stars, and from that time, that is where my imagination dwelled. As a teenager, I read several of the books I have listed here, and from that point, I was inspired to read more and also to write myself. I sincerely believe that despite our current problems, humanity will outlive its troubled childhood and reach for the stars. We are destined for the stars, and only in the works of science fiction writers is that future explored. The books below helped me to become a successful author in my own right.
An alien starship appears in the Solar System! Humanity faces a glorious future, or total extinction, and only Joe Falcon can make the choice. Never would Joe have imagined it would fall to him to make the decision that would alter the destiny of two worlds, launching humanity towards a glorious future, or to extinction.
Falcon's Call is an action packed dive into the unknown, written in the style of the great, classic, science-fiction stories. If you like surprising plot twists, compelling characters and a hero who actually cares, you must read this new novel by Mike Waller.
Reader's Favorite Gold Medal winner 2019 B.R.A.G. Medallion Honoree 2019 Chill With A Book Premier Award 2019
In a heart-pounding battle for humanity's survival, one man holds the key to a glorious future or utter extinction.
In a race against time, Earth and Mars race to claim a derelict alien ship as it enters the Solar System, both aware that whichever planet succeeds might in so doing achieve technological advantage over the other. But who should they send? Joe Falcon, an unlikely candidate, never saw himself as the "right" person. Accompanied by a crew of misfits, each fleeing their own…
